Customer Reviews

Mind on Statistics (with CD-ROM and Internet Companion for Statistics)

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Mind on Statistics is probably one of the few books on the market which seeks to teach statistical concepts as opposed to the mindless manipulation of mathematical formulae and computation with recipes. Only one other book currently in print: Statistics, Concepts and Controversies by David S. Moore, comes close to it. Both books are very well written, but Mind on Statistics goes one step further; it actually tries to make statistics interesting to learn, and it succeeds.

The key merits of the book are its tips on using Minitab and Excel to perform statistical calculations, and its insistence on thinking and reasoning when using any of the tools of statistics. Chapter One of the book is highly recommended, as it goes into the uses and limitations of statistical tools, especially inference.

The book also presents several fundamental rules to the student, the most important one being the Fundamental Rule for Inference, which essentially asks the critical question- is the sample one has taken appropriate for the question(s) one asks? One can not infer from sample to population if the sample is nothing at all like the population.

For each topic presented in each chapter, the student is encouraged to 'turn on your mind' and apply the lesson learned. Each chapter also contains at least twenty or more example problems which apply the topics presented. An accompanying CD-ROM containing highly useful teaching applets also helps to drive home key concepts. The CD-ROM also contains supplemental problems.

Another good point about the book is that it does not assume that the reader has access to any fancy statistical software, such as JMP, SPSS, SAS or even Minitab, though it does provides tips for Minitab. The authors also realize the ubiquity of MS Office and Excel, and take advantage of this by including Excel tips. This is helpful, as more than a few people are not aware of the statistical capability that is already available in their computers with MS Office Excel (or even MS Works Excel). The book also has sources for further reading on topics presented in each chapter.

The only major drawback to the text is its failure to include a checklist of key questions the intelligent consumer of statistics should ask at the end of each chapter. The only other minor demerit of the text is its failure to present all of the possible reasons for a correlation between two variables in Chapter 5 of the text- Relationships Between Quantitative Variables.

Overall, the book rates high in the usability and comprehension categories, and manages to be a fun read at points. However, the text still requires the student to do some mathematical calculations, but these instances are not too taxing. I liked the book, and have bought one copy for my office and plan to buy one to keep as a lending copy.

In passing, one of the authors, Jessica M. Utts, has written another statistics book in a similar vein titled Seeing Through Statistics. That text also emphasizes the intelligent consumption of statistics in the real world, especially from the newspaper and other media sources, as well as scholarly publications one can find in any good public or university library. However, the main focus of Seeing Through Statistics is on the interpretation of research findings, typically those that make their way to the public at large via the media, while in contrast, Mind on Statistics covers all of the basics behind the generation and calculation of statistics and the uses and limitations of many powerful but important statistical tools and concepts, as well as the interpretation of statistics.

Those looking to learn the fundamentals of statistics are hard pressed to find a better book. The only other book like it pitched at a level suitable for non-science majors is Statistics, Concepts and Controversies by David S. Moore. Science and especially engineering types can also stand to gain much insight from the use of Mind on Statistics to learn the limitations of statistical tools especially.

This book has a case study approach to presenting statistics.
As a teacher I really liked the order in which the chapters are presented. Two innovations I appreciated are the introduction to hypothesis testing using proportions rather than means, and the treatment of qualitative variables.

Some of the innovations, however, may catch the reader off guard. For example, contingency tables together with p-values are discussed in chapter 6, while hypothesis testing is introduced in chapter 11. Another example, ANOVA methods are discussed but the F-table is missing.

This book is also weak in the presentation of basic concepts.
There are few examples worked out, and there are even fewer exercises that ask students to actually do any manipulation or solving. In the probability section I found that the 28th problem of the chapter to be the first that required any serious application of mathematics.

If you are the person who likes problems that require discussion then this is your book, but if you like exercises that require mathematics consider another text.

I liked the book as it is for a total beginner. Takes you through concepts of Statistics with very good case studies. Highly recommend.

The statistics department of my university recommeded this book for professors to teach out of since one of the authors is a lecturer there, but since then, some of the professors have stopped using this book and moved on to better ones. This book is a terrible text book, in the sense that desciptions are very short, examples are unrepresentative of the concept, and concepts are not presented in an organized fashion. The book also lacks minor things like solutions to problems included within the text of the chapter. I had taken AP stats in High school before and the book I used then was a lot easier to understand and follow. In fact, some of the professors at the university are beginning to use it.

the best thing abt this book is that it teaches basics with simple examples,then takes to next level,so from beginners to expert point of view concepts are clear.

So many words for so little content. Our students hate it and it's a nuisance to teach from.

I used this book for a Stats 350 course at my university and I had already had statistics once but due to a conflict in transfer credits, I had to take it again. I found this book was not helpful at all and actually confused me on stuff I already knew. It doesn't give you the opportunity to really test your knowledge the way some other texts do. I do not recommend this book at all.

I ordered from amonzon becasue someone had advised me to check the price. The book was less than the school book store was selling it for .

Someone should have told the authors that simple concepts don't need to be elaborated. Insulting a student's intelligence in no way helps him to learn.